Art of metal-working.



N. E. CLARK.

ART OF METAL WORKING.

APPLICATXON FILED SEPT. 29, 1913.

1,165,071. Patented Dec. 21, 1915. 1" 1 ,416 IE is 2 .1 1 1% l A 44 2\\ 1.5 15 217 [2:5 J7

PM COUWASHINGTON D. C.

NORRIS ELMORE CLARK, OF PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

ART OF METAL-WORKING.

Original application filed May 20, 1908, Serial No. 433,923.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

Divided and this application filed September 29, 1913. Serial No. 792,247.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ,I, Nonnrs ELMORE CLARK, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing at Plainville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in the 'Art of Metal-\Vorking, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the art of forming expanded metal fabrics.

The main object is to provide a strong fabric which can be manufactured economically. One of the principal usesfof such a fabric is as reinforcement forcement, plaster and concrete. p

One of my objects is the economical formation of a fabric having longitudinal ten sion members connected by strands. v The accompanying single sheetjof drawings illustrates two forms of products made according to the invention which will be more fully described and claimed hereinafter.

Figure 1, is a plan view are; pieceof material showing the arrangement of slitting preparatory to expansion. Fig. 2, shows the same stretched or expanded. Fig. 8, shows a modification of slitting. Fig. 4, shows a portion of the stock of 3 expanded.

Fig. 5, is a fragmentary sectional view of a bar and attached strands.

The fabric may be of any width and contain any number'of bars, two or more such as 1, 2 and 3. These maybe of any cross sectional shape and size. Adjacent bars are integrally connected by a series of members each of which is made up of at least three strands such as 4, 5 and 6. The alternate connectors extend at opposite inclinations, the strands 7, 8 and 9 in the drawing being inclined upward and to the left while strands 1, 5 and 6 are inclined upward and to the right. The connectors 10 and 11 are arranged so as to form the remaining sides of a diamond which is divided across one diameter by the bar 2. The slitting preparatory to expansion is along lines parallel to the bars and in staggered relation, the pairs of slits such as 12 and 13 alternating with slits such as 14 and 15. The bonds between the slits in the row of slits 1 1 are cut transversely as at 16 and the bonds between the slits in the row of slits 13 are cut transversely as at 17 The slitting between the bars 2 and 3 is symmetrical with the slitting between bars 1 and 2 so that the product as 7 cross bar.

In the drawings I have shown the strands on edge relative to the plane of the fabric. The exact angle is unimportant. The tension bars may also be on edge or inclined as in Fig. 5 if desired.

The slitted stock may be stretched or expanded laterally in any suitable manner. The strands being on edge give greater stiffness to the fabric even when made of light gage stock. The lugs such as 18, 19, 20 and 21 serve as anchors to prevent transverse slipping in concrete when so used.

The method of manufacture is simple and cheap and when properly conducted does not injure the material. It also insures a maximum degree of expansion for the amount of metal employed.

This application is a divisional application from #433,923 filed by me May 20th, 1908, now Patent No. 1,086,027, dated Feb. 3rd, 1914.

What I claim is 1. The art of forming a reticulated metal fabric consisting of longitudinally extending unslitted parallel bars and integrally connecting expanded sections, each expanded section consisting of a. plurality of rows of integrally connected bent strands, the marginal strands being connected respectively to the adjacent longitudinally extending parallel bars and the intermediate strands being connected respectively to the strands laterally adjacent thereto, which comprises slitting the stock between the parallel bars longitudinally in a plurality of rows parallel to said bars and in staggered arrangement and slitting the stock transversely midway between the ends of the slits in the interior rows and bending the strands and opening the slitted portions.

The art of forming a reticulated fabric which consists in slitting a blank to produce longitudinally extending parallel bars and an integrally connecting slitted portion having a plurality of rows of longitudinal slits parallel to said bars and arranged in staggered relation, the metal between the ends I extending parallel bars and an integrally connecting slitted portion having at least four rows of longitudinal slitsparallel to said bars, the length of said slits being very materially greater than the distance between said slits and the slits in successive rows being in relatively staggered arrangement and the metal between said bars being slitted transversely relative to said bars so as to form extensible zigzag strips connecting said bars, each strip consisting of at least three strands and drawing apart the bars to extend the strips and form meshwork.

4. The art of forming reticulated metal fabric consisting of longitudinally parallel bars and integrally connecting ties, each tie consisting of at least three strands arranged on edge relative to the plane of the fabric which consists in slitting portions of the metal between the bars longitudinally in a plurality of parallel rows in staggered arrangement and transversely slitting the metal midway between the ends of the slits in the inner rows and drawing apart the bars to open the slitted portions and form meshwork.

5. The art of forming a' reticulated fabric which comprises forming a plurality of rows of longitudinal slits between two longitudinal unslitted bars, the slits of alternate rows being transversely opposite each other and the other longitudinal slits overlapping the intervals between the slits of the first mentioned rows, transversely slitting the stock Copies of this patent may be obtained for midway between the ends of said other slits so as to form strands and then separating the unslitted bars, bending the strands and opening the slits.

6. The art of forming a reticulated metal fabric which comprises slitting longitudinal bands of metal between longitudinal unslitted bars and by the slitting, forming four or more rows of parallel longitudinal slits leaving rows of strands connected together by bonds in staggered arrangement, all ofthe slits being of substantially the same length, the center of each slit lying adjacent the center of the bond between the adjacent slits in the adjacent row of slits, slitting transversely such of the bonds as it is necessary to slit to permit the strands to be bent without stretching the strands materially or buckling the longitudinal unslitted bars, then separating the longitudinal unslitted bars and forming the meshwork.

7. The method of forming a reticulated metal fabric which consists in forming a plurality of bendable strands by making a plurality of rows of longitudinal parallel slits and transverse slits between longitudinal parallel unslitted bars, all of the longitudinal slits being of substantially the same length, the center of each longitudinal slit being along side of a pointmidway between the ends of the adjacent longitudinal slits in the adjacent row and each transverse slit extending between the central portions of longitudinal slits in alternate rows midway between the adjacent ends of slits in the intervening row of longitudinal slits so as to permit the strands to bend without materially stretching and without bucklingthe longitudinal unslitted bars,' then separating the longitudinalunslitted bars and bending the strands to form the meshwork.

V NORRIS ELMORE CLARK.

'Witnesses:

E. E. DANIELS, A. A. MCLEOD.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I C. 

